According to the World Health Organization, chronic diseases are now the major cause of disability and death worldwide, accounting for 59% of 57 million deaths annually and 46% of the global burden of disease. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 90 million Americans live with chronic illnesses, accounting for more than 75% of the national $1.4 trillion bill for medical care costs. Chronic diseases also account for one-third of the years of potential life lost before age 65. Although widespread illnesses such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes are well-characterized in terms of risk-factors, prevention, and treatment, there are a host of under-researched and untreatable conditions; the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) tracks approximately 6,000 rare disorders which, altogether, affect 23 million Americans.
Research into the relationship between health behavior and outcomes suffers from a variety of methodological flaws. There is often insufficient funding for prospective follow-up studies, service provision may be dependent on research staff, sample sizes are small, and particularly in the case of rare diseases, recruitment is difficult. Furthermore, results from clinical research tend to be written in scientific jargon, are difficult for the general public to understand, and refer to group averages rather than individual outcomes.
Accordingly, there is a need for an effective process to (i) collect data on interventions and health outcomes, (ii) model the likely course of a disease for an individual on the basis of their background and experience to-date, (iii) provide information on likely outcomes to the individual to help them manage their condition, and (iv) improve the model to improve the accuracy of predictions made.
The term “intervention” refers any event that has a positive, negative, or neutral effect on one or more medical conditions. The term intervention includes a variety of activities including, but not limited to, administration of a medication, administration of a remedy, administration of a nutritional supplement, administration of a vitamin, exercise, physical therapy, massage, stretching, consumption of food, rest, and sleep.